But it also doesn't set out to wag a moral finger or make any grand, sweeping statements. For instance, the ball game Eva plays with a toddler Kevin: when Kevin successfully rolls the ball back to her, her praise is strained and brittle. The Bad Mother refers to oppressive puritans like Margaret White in Carrie. It's no secret that We Need to Talk about Kevin is intended to challenge your assumptions about the people we think of as "evil." She has a career as a writer put on hold, while her husband Franklin (O'Reilly, at his most oblivious) carries on. Now I'm not so sure." We Need to Talk About Kevin. The point here is not to understand Kevin at all. Eva goes into postpartum depression, and her menacing and antisocial kid Kevin only aggravates her ailment. Like Jentorra kind of was the reason that her society collapsed in a way, in the comic books. When asked about the film adaptation in an interview with The Guardian, Shriver said her biggest concern was if they'd be able to "capture the quality of the slightly unreliable narrator and the ambiguity over who is to blame. Theres a possibility that maybe before all this happened that there was that naivete to Jentorra, but yeah, I don't know that she was re-inspired by Cassies energy, I guess, as much as like, Hey, this is the real world and you need to kind of catch up to where we are.. 15.7M subscribers We Need To Talk About Kevin #1 Clip - Tilda Swinton Movie (2011) HD Subscribe to TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/sxaw6h The mother of a teenage boy who went on a high-school killing. Kevin is far too malevolent, which might work in a Rosemary's Baby horror context, but not here (admittedly it does verge on horror at times but ultimately we are asked to empathise with Eva's travails as a mother). Will, get up. Kevin is seen at three ages. As she leaves, a troupe of tiny ballerinas in tutus run past her. Tilda Swinton, in a bracing, tour-de-force performance,. But Eva is incapable of showing him the love that he deserves, even after trying her best. ROHAN: Jentorra does have a comics counterpart, did you draw on those stories to inform your backstory or did you work with Peyton to create anew backstory for the film? Mimicking the cyclical nature of trauma, the shot repeats in the climax, where Eva discovers the slain bodies of her husband and daughter. Neither parent punishes him or seeks outside help, leaving him to his own devices. How difficult was it to play the straight woman when everyone around you gets to be fairly silly in the early scenes? The truth to motherhood is a harsh one. In an ordinary movie, there would be scenes in classrooms, meetings with counselors, heart-to-heart discussions between the parents. Updated Date: When Eva dips her whole face in a basin of water, her face turns into Kevin's. Kevin, it seems, has a method to his madness. So, what did that exchange mean for the Khatchadourians? The same 7-year-old also says, "I don't give a rat's ass." Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking Mild 35 of 50 found this mild Adults are sometimes shown casually drinking wine. Ambivalent toward motherhood, Eva struggles to care about her increasingly cruel son, Kevin (Ezra Miller). Cookies help us deliver our Services. ROHAN: Since Jentorra is the leader of the rebellion, was there anything specificyou tried to channel or watch to get into her headspace? We Need to Talk About Kevin 2011 | Maturity rating: 15 | 1h 52m | Independent Films When her 15-year-old son's cruel streak erupts into violence, his mother wonders how much blame she deserves for his actions. Between the ages of 6 and 8 years old, played by Jasper Newell, he is a clever little monster who glares at Eva hurtfully, soils his pants deliberately and drives her into such a fury that she breaks his arm. Is she channeling the brief moment of affection between the two when he was young and sick, or is she working toward being a better mother upon his release? When Eva gets pregnant for the second time, Kevin feels that he has become estranged from the family and grows jealous. When Kevin paints Evas room with color splashes, Eva thinks that Kevin wanted to ruin the room, but maybe he really wanted to make it more special. A lawsuit could force the F.D.A. Instead, maternal ambivalence is coded as horror. Home | It is an epistolary novel, comprising the letters that Eva Khatchadourian writes to her husband Franklin in the aftermath of their son's crime. The shelves and tabletops are as barren as those in a display home. Votes are used to help determine the most interesting content on RYM. We also did a lot of blue screen work before, which really helps with the imagination. While Eva and Franklin argue over the accident, Kevin taunts his mother by peeling a litchi, with a smug look on his face. and Stephen Broussard, p.g.a., Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania also stars Jonathan Majors as Kang, David Dastmalchian as Veb, Katy O'Brian as Jentorra, William Jackson Harper as Quaz and Bill Murray as Lord Krylar. Prosecutors downgrade charges in Alec Baldwin shooting case, Die Hard star Bruce Willis has frontotemporal dementia, condition worsens, As We Need to Talk about Kevin turns 10, a look at what made it such a haunting meditation on motherhood. I think that she and Jentorra had a huge past together. So, I think it'd be really cool to explore that either in future Quantum Realm stuff or if somehow I got sucked out into the surface world or something, any of that would be fun. So, his dressing sense is perhaps not an indictment of his bitterness. The film depicts him as a psychopath beyond redemption. Hes a friendly and vibrant young priest and a gifted preacher. Her husband Franklin (John C. Reilly) dismisses her concerns and uproots their bustling city life for a quiet home in the suburbs. The non-linear approach makes the somewhat inevitable events more powerful and though Miller is effective as Kevin, younger actor Newell actually impressed me even more. KATY: Oh, I'd love to come back. The two embrace, and then she walks away. In Morvern Callar, Samantha Morton grieved her boyfriend's suicide. It was definitely a challenge to play the straight character to these guys, but it was also kind of like, okay, this is my role. From the beginning, Eva is detached from motherhood. Apparently even before he began to talk, Kevin made a vow to punish Eva for her feelings. How would I behave if basically the weight of a literal realm was on my shoulders? Each rewatch only feels more rewarding because Ramsay is so pure and gifted a filmmaker she rattles and revises our preconceptions of what a movie and yes, mother too can be. KATY: Yeah, I mean, a lot of it would be drawn from movies, essentially. By provoking her, Kevin is able to get some precious emotional honesty out of her. It was a really short moment, and then yeah, I would have loved to have had some interaction with Janet, but that wasn't even in there. We Need to Talk About Kevin is already playing in NYC; it opens today in LA, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix and is rolling out nationwide. Therefore, when Kevin shows Eva the scar from the childhood accident, he tells her that it is the most honest thing that Eva ever did to him. Meanwhile, Kevin is planning something that would shatter Evas world forever. His attitude towards his son is warmer, but underneath there's no more depth than there is with Eva. That's a deeply human tale, and it calls to us, and I think that's why I see takes on the movie saying that it even encourages the viewer to think evil is in our nature and is immutable. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. She isn't even really at the center of it; that position is occupied by her son, Kevin, who is an instinctive sadist with a gift for knowing exactly how to wound her, reject her, deceive her and make her soul bleed. Alec Baldwin has been charged in the southwest state of New Mexico for manslaughter and faces an 18-month prison sentence, as does the film's armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. Stripping the screenplay off words, the disturbance arises from a seamless amalgamation of image and sound. Little matters like washing blood red paint off the windows of her diminished home that angry residents have vandalized, become rituals of self-abnegation and penance. Sometimes Zuzus petals are all you have to hold onto. Copyright | It'd be so much fun. She obviously feels complicit and takes on the role of communal scapegoat as a way to expiate her own guilt as well as to grieve the loss of her family. Did your prior experience help prepare you for some of what to expect on Quantumania? Before the film opens, the character referred to in the title of Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin, at the age of 15, has massacred a number of his fellow schoolmates. Eva's elation is reflected in the room's warm yellows and flowers on the bedside table. Kevin's mother struggles to love her strange child, despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. Through association and contextualization, it becomes evident that Kevin killed his father and sister with the new and powerful bow and arrow that he received as a Christmas present from his father. At first glance, it would seem that Kevin is yet another installment in the pantheon of post-modern films intent upon assaulting the human desire to give meaning to the world. To rate, slide your finger across the stars from left to right. As a portrait of a deteriorating state of mind, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is a masterful film. Indeed, one of. Her public perception is unlikely to change, but Eva appears firm in her choice to stick around for Kevin's sake. Kevin relentlessly cries in the custody of Eva, but Franklin seems to know how to stop him. So is Amelia in The Babadook. Outward appearances of mother and son match their steely interiority as neither suffers fools gladly and both abhor artifice and sentimentality. With Franklin there is no conflict. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. Alienated from friends and community, all she has left is her son. As a teenager, Kevin (now played by Ezra Miller) has started to cruelly resemble his mother in profile and hairstyle. She lives with the guilt of what her son did, on top of the guilt of knowing she did nothing about the various warning signs. A bright light appears outside. In a sonic sleight-of-hand, the joyful cheers alchemise into the sorrowful cries of the families and friends of Kevin's victims. Eva is attempting to play the part of mommy as defined by popular culture; the cooing, gooey, all-encompassing ubiquitousness to her child. Still, the film should not be overshadowed by its leads performance, as is often the case with female Oscar nominees. "At the end of the day, I have no idea, and that pure, serene, ignorance has become, itself, a funny kind of solace," she writes in a letter to her deceased husband. Who's there when Kevin gets sick? ROHAN: You're on a cast with Paul Rudd, David Dastmalchian,William Jackson Harper, and so manyfunny people. It may not strike one as something extraordinary, but one needs to understand that Kevins mind is wired differently. The flaws of this largely overwrought story belong not so much to Ramsay as filmmaker as to Shriver's source novel. Business, Economics, and Finance. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) photos, including production stills, premiere photos and other event photos, publicity photos, behind-the-scenes, and more. Ramsay regularly cuts to a scene where Eva is driving her car past flashing police lights toward the scene of some tragedy. Also, stripes are a striking feature that connects Kevins clothing sense from childhood to adolescence. Eva and Franklin never seek psychiatric help for their son; they can't talk about Kevin without fighting. Eva, in turn, becomes more protective of Celia. Eva and Franklin are a happily married couple till Eva gives birth to Kevin. This terrifying South Korean found footage horror movie directed by Jung Bum-shik follows an internet broadcaster who reunites a team of . A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN explores the relationship between a mother and her evil son. Kevin was not necessarily abused or tortured as a child, many kids endure much worse and did not end up as mass killers. Ramsay simulates these associative memories, jumping back and forth between the past and the present. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined. I watched this film several years ago and decided today I'd watch it again as I really enjoyed it the first time round! The kind of clothes one chooses is also indicative of ones social status. I bring what is actually happening and the severity of what's actually happening to level out, I guess, this part of the movie, because on the other side, you got Kang and Janet are being very, very serious too on that side of things. Kevin has numerous reasons to hate his mother, Eva. We cling to guidelines like the length of Tilda Swinton's hair to figure out where we are. This is also true of Eva, but we see the conflict in her about her son's mental state. Directed by Lynne Ramsay, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is fragments of time, jagged and confusing, lurching around inside her mind. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver plays with the deepest fears of the majority of people. Kevin has a real emotional attachment to his bow because the only time his mother showed him genuine affection was when he had the flu, and she read Robin Hood to him. February 24, 2023 at 12:05 PM ET. The Ending Of We Need To Talk About Kevin Explained. The red paint of vandals stains her car and the front of her house. Kevin predominantly shows signs of antisocial personality disorder, and when it is left unnoticed by his parents, Kevins condition takes a wrong turn. However, just the neglect of his mother would not amount to the cathartic finale. KATY: We had this whole scene where we're all cheering at the end kind of thing. It suffers from an excess of clunky foreshadowing and there's very little I find believable about the characters' actions. If she had her way, she would put her life on rewind and start all over again maybe even as somebody else, since she's not very fond of herself. Eva often looks like she's in a state of shock. For instance, post-partum depression similar to hers is very common and probably didn't do as much damage as she ascribes to it. When she asks him that honest question, having accepted the reality of her abuse towards him, she comes to him totally honest And he no longer feels that underlying connection between love and fear that motivated him to his actions. Thats the underlying message of We Need to Talk about Kevin, Lynne Ramseys remarkable allegory on the transcendent nature of relationships. I have the feeling that this film, by entering Eva's mind, sees only what has been battering her down for 16 years. For full Oscars coverage and commentary by its reviewer, Fr. Only with her because his father was at work whole day and saw his son for like an hour a day. SPOILER. This turns out to be some sort of annual Italian tomato festival, but the image is disturbing. For full Oscars coverage and commentary by its reviewer, Fr. Children seldom get that attention, though. to revoke its approval of the two main drugs used for medication abortion in the United States. But when he just sits there frowning, she expresses real disgust towards him. The real monster is expecting nothing less than unconditional love. This is the scene where the film begins and the ending comes full circle revisiting the moment of rupture in Evas life. Kevin was never the apple of his mothers eye, which he realized from early childhood. ET. Reilly is typically wonderful in a thankless role, while both juvenile actors evince a low-grade rage that never moves into complete disconnection or full-blown psychosis. See movies like "The innocents" (1961, Jack Clayton) (pay attention to the title) and "The omen" (1976, Richard Donner). Genres: Psychological Drama, Family Drama. Ironically he becomes a miniature doppelganger of her, all sharp angles and androgynous countenance lying in direct contrast to the lovably rounded and craggy features of his father. And I really am curious as to how she's handling a society of ultra-intelligent ants that basically flooded her world. Kids banging on the door on Halloween in the present evokes a memory of young Kevin throwing all his food at the fridge. Besides their physical likeness, Eva and Kevin also share a certain coldness, which plays into Eva's self-hatred. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg's response to Donald Trump's refusal to accept any responsibility for the impact his massive deregulations have had went viral on Thursday as video of him encouraging the ex-president to support the Biden administration's efforts went viral. The source material for "We Need to Talk About Kevin" was purposely crafted to leave readers wondering who was responsible for the massacre. Advertise, Funny Superhero (DC & Marvel) Shirts & Stickers. "We Need to Talk About Kevin" leans into that debate, showcasing a resentful mother, a passive father, and a child with an untreated mental illness. Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton), a former travel writer, gives up her life of adventure when she becomes pregnant. There have been a lot of discussions nature vs. nurture, but I've been thinking she was not ok during pregnancy, usually postpartum depression starts after birth. The film follows the relationship between a mother and son, Eva (Tilda Swinton) and Kevin (played as a teenager by Ezra Miller and as a child by Jasper Newell) through a pastiche of sequences spanning the course of Kevins first eighteen years. The colour red is a recurring motif in the film. Because Kevin is infallible to Franklin, he's also incapable of needing help, and as a result Franklin seems to have no respect to any sort of danger to his son, even giving a disturbed young man a lethal weapon just for fun on his fifteenth birthday - something that could even be considered an act in direct defiance of the reality of his son's deteriorating mental state, or even a dare. Nature refers to how they were born, while nurture refers to how they were raised. For Kevin, maternal love and attention have become completely conflated with disgust and fear. His son is who Franklin says he is, and anything else is just invisible. Is her husband as zoned out as he seems or is that only her perception? This in turn completely undermines the husband/wife dynamic. He doesn't have the emotional capacity to have a disturbed son, and so has decided that he doesn't and that's the end of it. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be be Kevin's mother struggles to love her strange child, despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. This review of the film was originally published on December 22, 2011. Of course, that mental illness is presumed by viewers. And of course from there, we learn he perpetrates a mass killing at a school. Directed by Peyton Reed and produced by Kevin Feige, p.g.a. 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